Avoiding Dangerous Plugins and Themes

Talk presented at WordCamp NYC 2014, WordCamp Miami 2015

Transcript

2. Avoiding Dangerous Plugins and Themes https://ramiabraham.com/talks/avoiding- dangerous-plugins-and-themes
3. Rami Abraham; - Developer at WebDevStudios/Maintainn - Plugin support at AffiliateWP.com - Game developer
4. Well...not quite “no one”.
5. The situation: 1. Something is broken, or you need a feature. 2. You know what you’d like. 3. You’re not sure what to trust.
6. Here comes a car analogy.
7. Hmm; something is wrong...
8. What do I need/want?
9. Lack of diligence may result in...
10. Less than what you were expecting.
11. Let’s break things down... Into 8 smaller steps.
12. S.A.D.C.L.O.W.N.
13. SEARCH Finding something that appears to do the job. - Premium shops - WordPress.org - Various larger marketplaces - Custom design and development
14. ASK The seller: - What are some common conflicts with other plugins/themes? - Do you offer documentation? Where is it? - Do you offer support? - If you offer support, for how long? Is it extra?
15. ASK Other people: - Other WP site owners - Developers - Community forums - Their competitors
16. DECIDE Pick the best solution you find, then: - Use it in a safe place first, like a staging site. - Check behavior of the site after installation and configuration of new product
17. CONFLICTS - After installing the new product, have a checklist of crucial things to check as tests on the site: Some examples: - Logging in - Purchases/checkout process - Design/layout being affected
18. LIABILITY - If something goes wrong, whom do I contact? - Am I liable to my customers if something goes wrong? - Have a backup plan; (re-configuring a commerce plugin while customers are trying to order on your site = bad times)
19. OWNERSHIP - Know how to use the products running your sites. - Have a cursory understanding of all moving parts. - Know who to reach out to in case of trouble
20. WARNING SIGNS Things to look out for: - Lack of support for products - Violations of the WordPress trademark - Poor user interface within the plugin or theme settings - Company is generally not communicative
21. NO COWBOY-CODING! - Don’t test unknowns on your main site - Use a staging site. - Use a staging site. - Use a staging site. - Use a staging site. - Use a staging site.
22. Thank you! @RamiAbraham